Watching other toy lines' forums can be entertaining, because what may seem perfectly fine to me as an outsider could be a tremendous insult to a group of fans. Let's get the token controversy out of the way. Stinkor is, to any non-hardcore forum user, probably a perfectly fine figure, made with more love and care than the original in the 1980s as he now has furry textured parts rather than just being a straight-up repaint of Mer-Man with a shield. His heads are amazingly fun, one is a straight-up repaint of Mer-Man's "toy" head (see right, note the rounded ears) and the other is a furry, pointy-eared creature that reminds me more of an angry cat. The latter has a mask which is molded to fit snuggly to his face, you have to fidget a bit but it does fit just fine. The eyes differ from head to head, with the "classic" head having wider eyes and the newer one reminding me of some yellow smiley thing. It's cute and fun, with the original head really having that mellower (yet fangly) vibe of the original while the newer one looks a lot meaner. I like both looks so I can't really decide which is going to be the fixture on the shelves yet.

The big stink (har) came from Mattel's decision (or accident) to swap the forearms, which some feel results in a terrible figure that needs to be dismantled and repainted and apologized for. I guess I can see where the fans are coming from, as it differed from the expectations, but as someone with a nearly complete set of MOTUC I can say that the swapped arms do nothing to hurt the toy's range of motion and to me, it looks fine. Call me stupid because I don't care about anatomy, but accident or not, it's not a decision/error that's causing me any grief. I guess some people can't un-see it, but I guess I've bought so many wonky robot toys where I can't find a reason to be upset here, as far as my toys go. Moving on.

Word from around the web is that some people say the figure has little to no odor-- mine, I thought, had little odor and I was OK with that. After sitting out on my coffee table for a couple of days, Mrs. 16bit asked me to move him to another room as the smell seemed to be getting stronger, so I wouldn't suggest storing the loose figure in a closet or enclosed space. Mine is near a fireplace and since being placed there, the odor hasn't caused me any real issues. Mattel reused the original smell of patchouli and I would actually say it's less unpleasant than their new Moss Man.

I'm sure this will lower my stock with some of you, but I really like this figure a lot. The colors are good, the parts and pieces are great, he stands just fine (so far) and best of all, he has a lot of swappable bits. If you want to make him as a 1980s-style Mer-Man repaint, they included a black-and-white Mer-Man head. If you like the more skunk/cat-like look of the 2002 TV series, a head slightly closer to that look is also included, as is an optional breathing mask, odor blaster, and backpack. Stinkor's blue shield is similar to that from an existing weapon, just like the original, so you've got options. Even more amazing is a swappable "nozzle" around where his chin would be. By default, you see a red dot on his chest armor-- this is attached by a peg, and can be swapped for a lever.

The figure is, on the whole, a repaint of the furry Beast Man body with Mer-Man's hands and feet, the furry loincloth, and newly-tooled forearms plus new heads and new armor. The armor was, in the 1980s, recycled Mekaneck armor. Today, it's a prepaint, with Mekaneck coming out in a few months. (I can't wait.)

With all the bits and pieces (and smell) the figure , it's a good one. It's bright and colorful, his joints are nice and tight, and from where I sit I don't have anything to complain about. Personally I'd prefer the toy were unscented-- a Man-At-Arms I bought off eBay has a weird funk I can't get rid of-- but I can see why Mattel wanted to keep it. As the box says, "It's fun!"

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